81. People Are Poor

People are standing in long lines all over America. The long lines are unemployment lines. Unemployment lines are for people who have no jobs. Millions of Americans have no jobs. They used to have jobs. But they got laid off. They got laid off because of the recession. The recession is in America. The recession is in China. The recession is in Europe. The recession is all over the world. What’s a recession? A recession is a time when people have only a little money. They don’t buy new things. If they don’t buy new things, factories stop making new things. Factories lay off the workers. In a recession, people buy only necessary things, like food. They don’t buy new TVs, new cars, or new homes. They don’t buy new shoes. They take their old shoes to the shoe repair shop. They don’t go to expensive restaurants. They go to fast-food restaurants. They don’t go to the movies. They watch TV. They don’t go to Disneyland. They go to city parks. Everyone hopes the recession will end soon.